


Perfect in Memory (The Keep Your Friends Close Remix)

by wei



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-23
Updated: 2012-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-04 04:14:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/389627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei/pseuds/wei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ino and Sakura, a bar, and planted memories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect in Memory (The Keep Your Friends Close Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hungrytiger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungrytiger/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Perfect in Memory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/383992) by [hungrytiger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungrytiger/pseuds/hungrytiger). 



Sakura had lost track of the time she and Ino had spent in the bar. It had been too long since she had time to unwind and swap stories with her oldest friend, just the two of them together. Given that Sakura was technically on assignment, a bar was probably not the most sensible place to spend her evening in, but the research conference was only once a year, the capital city was hardly a risky place to be, and they wouldn’t have given her a per diem if they hadn’t expected her to spend it. Alcohol did have a tendency to loosen her tongue, though. 

Sakura started another story. “You know how familiarity breeds contempt? I used to be in such awe of Lady Tsunade, and while I still think she’s an amazing ninja, she’s different from the way I used to imagine her. Like, a couple days ago, I found her drooling all over her desk. At noon. After, I presume, a late night drinking session judging from all the empty bottles strewn around. Best part was, I had to spend the better part of the afternoon squinting at the scroll on the top of the pile to try to figure out what it said before the saliva and alcohol made the ink run and paper crumple.”

“Was it worth it?” asked Ino.

“Apprenticing to Lady Tsunade? Definitely. Rewriting the scroll? Not really,” sighed Sakura. “Even though it was signed by Gaara, it sounded more like Temari’s writing. I could probably have just asked her to write up another copy before she returned to Hidden Sand but Shizune was worried it would make it seem like the Hokage wasn’t taking Hidden Stone’s raids on Hidden Sand and the upcoming meeting to deal with them seriously enough. Copying the scroll took so long, I can still practically recite half of it.” 

“Please,” encouraged Ino, who seemed a little too thrilled at the prospect, but alcohol did have the ability to make the oddest things hilarious. 

Sakura recited what she remembered of the scroll in a pretty bad imitation of Temari’s voice, but Ino assured her that it was spot on and laughed uncontrollably at some of the odder pass codes. 

When she was finished, Sakura asked, “By the way, who’d you blackmail to get my conference details? I don’t think I got a chance to tell you I was coming here before I left.”

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” equivocated Ino.

“I bet it was Iruka. He’s such a softie,” said Sakura.

“I was lucky to catch you. I was supposed to be out in the field longer, but Shikamaru and I ended up botching our last assignment,” said Ino

“Sounds like a story,” said Sakura.

“It wasn’t so bad, just a waste of time. I blame mission assignment for reassigning Chouji at the last minute. So, I was stuck in this dinky little common room of a dinky little inn in a dinky little village in a dinky little country while I was waiting for my target to be left alone. It took like an hour. Luckily, he was pretty, so it wasn’t that unpleasant,” said Ino.

“What’d he look like?” asked Sakura.

“One of those pretty boy types. You know - pretty, pale skin, long dark hair, in need of a good lay to loosen up.” Sakura blushed at Ino’s response, thinking of Sasuke, though luckily, Ino didn’t seem to make the connection.

Anyway, when his teammate left, I started trying to catch his attention, but he was ignoring me, and I hate it when a pretty guy refuses to acknowledge my charms,” said Ino, with a grin that showed she was half joking.

“Of course,” prompted Sakura.

“So, I hit him with a new jutsu of mine, which was supposed to make him think that we were old classmates, and therefore more willing to spend some quality time with me, if you know what I mean.” At this, Ino paused to take another sip of her drink, but Sakura didn’t take the opening. 

After swallowing, Ino continued, saying “I thought he was actually warming up to me pretty nicely, when of course his teammate came in and his attention just snapped to her like I was an old shoe or something. Shikamaru was supposed have made sure she didn’t come back before I was done. He claimed that it was too difficult to hold her up without using any techniques that would reveal which village he was from, but I think he’d just gotten used to having Chouji handling the combat. Anyway, the teammate was all, ‘I think you should leave now,’ in that polite-but-ready-to-toss-you-out-on-your-butt tone, so I just left. Way too difficult to get a guy to spill his secrets during a three-way, even if I could pull it off. So, I thought I’d salvage the mission by heading over to visit you”

As Ino talked, something started to bother Sakura, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Also, at some point during the conversation that Sakura couldn’t recollect, they had moved out of the bar and were now walking through a deserted side street. It was possible she was a little bit drunk, so Sakura started to force her liver to metabolize the alcohol more quickly. 

Sakura tried to piece things together. “Let me get this straight. You mess up someone’s memories, inserting yourself there? And then you use that trust to get them into bed…”

“And let them tell me their secrets. Yes,” said Ino as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Why not just mind-meld them into telling you in the first place?” asked Sakura.

“The mind doesn’t work that way. It’s not a compulsion. Its….” Ino waved her hand as though it were an explanation.

“Disgusting,” suggested Sakura.

“Thanks, but no. And its not just sex, you know… It’s mostly not sex, actually; more’s the pity. It’s art- creating the memories, anyway. You’ve got to get people to trust you. But it’s hard sometimes. You can get to like them, these people who know you so well,” answered Ino.

“They don’t know you at all” objected Sakura, but as disturbing as she found Ino’s explanation, something still was wrong. She started working through her thoughts out loud. “You know, your target reminds me a little bit of Neji and H- “ and Sakura stopped mid-sentence, analytical mind catching up to her mouth. 

The knife slid in.

\--

The problem with medic-nins, even desk jockeys, where the timid little girls on the playground who never got a chance to shine ended up, is that they had an annoying tendency to come back to life. Ino knelt next to the corpse. “The thing of it is,” she said, punctuating her words with another stab, “you do this, and you don’t really know the person,” stab “but they know you. So much better than they think,” stab, “And that sucks.” 

Ino grabbed the purse off of the body to make it look like a mugging and stood up. She went to where Shikamaru was slouching next to the alley’s opening, fished out the coin purse, and waved it at him. “Want something to eat? My treat,” she said.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her flippancy. “Did you manage to get the information?” he asked instead.

Ino waved him off. “Yes, yes.” Shikamaru started to walk off, but instead of following him, she asked, “Do you ever wonder if I’m playing you too?”

“Not this question again,” complained Shikamaru.

“You wouldn’t be the only one back at Stone who thinks that way,” countered Ino. 

“Let’s just go back to the inn before the patrol comes by,” replied Shikamaru.

Ino stood still stubbornly instead. 

“Look, I know you. And you know me too. Well enough that it can’t be faked. That's enough for me,” he said, and then started walking. Unconvinced, Ino followed anyway.

Later, while their chests and bellies and legs are pressed against each other, Ino decided to revise her opinion and told him so, between kisses, lips millimeters apart.


End file.
